Kentucky Hushes Davidson's Sweet Bid In Charlotte

March 15, 1986|By Robyn Norwood, Sentinel Correspondent

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — They must have been filled with a yearning for the glory days, because the Davidson College fans Friday night cheered more vociferously than any fans of a 16th-seeded team usually think to do when they take on a team like the Kentucky Wildcats, the top-seeded team in the Southeast Regional of the NCAA Championships.

For a while, the frenzy of the sellout crowd of 11,666 seemed justified, for Davidson, which played three games this year here in Charlotte Coliseum, about 20 miles from its campus, was able to take an 18-13 lead over Kentucky with 12 minutes to play in the first half. But Kentucky took a 12-point halftime lead and won the game, 75-55, to advance to a second-round game at 2:30 Sunday against Western Kentucky.

''I thought we had a real shot at winning, especially when we had them blitzed at first and the crowd was really into it,'' said Gerry Born, who scored 13 for Davidson.

With Davidson up by five in the first half, Kentucky's Kenny Walker, who had not scored, pulled down a rebound so violently that he knocked teammate Cedric Jenkins to the floor, then banked in a follow shot. Jenkins was so shaken that he had to leave the game.

Walker proceeded to hit a couple of foul shots, and a few minutes later scored on a pass off a fastbreak that started with his own rebound. In the interim, Kentucky outscored Davidson, 16-2, and Davidson was never closer than 13 again. Kentucky opened the lead to 20 with almost 13 minutes to play in the game on a Walker lay-in.

''The guys just made some great passes to me inside and I was able just to shoot it over them,'' said Walker, who finished with 20.

Perhaps the reason the crowd here dared to show such confidence in Davidson is because they remember the days of Lefty Driesell and Terry Holland, of seven consecutive top 20 finishes, and of 1968 and 1969, when North Carolina beat Davidson by four and two points to go the Final Four. Charlotte basketball fans also can reflect on 1977, when UNC-Charlotte was in the Final Four.

This year it is Kentucky (30-3) that is favored to go to the Final Four. But the Wildcats cannot even advance to the Southeast Regional in Atlanta next weekend without beating Western Kentucky Sunday.

Western Kentucky advanced to the second round by defeating Nebraska, 67-59. Alabama, a 97-80 winner over Xavier, will play Illinois for the other spot in Atlanta. Illinois defeated Fairfield, 75-51, to advance.

In Western Kentucky, Kentucky has an intrastate foe such as Davidson and UNCC have been to North Carolina in the past. In 1971, Western Kentucky went to the Final Four at Kentucky's expense, beating the Wildcats, 107-83, in the final of the Mideast Regional in Athens, Ga.

''It was 15 years ago,'' Sutton said of that game. ''I hope we play better this time than we did last time.''

The question that arises is now is difficult to quantify: How good is this Kentucky team? Only three teams -- Kansas, Auburn and N.C. State -- have beaten Kentucky all season, and the Wildcats have not lost since Feb. 2.

Yet Kentucky shot just 47 percent from the field in the first half, and only 66 percent from the line for the game.

Nebraska Coach Moe Iba resigned his position after the game with Western Kentucky.